The Big Problem With TPP’s Super Court That We’re Not Talking About

Financiers will use it to bet on lawsuits, while taxpayers foot the bill. By David Dayen.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/isds-lawsuit-financing-tpp_us_57c48e40e4b09cd22d91f660?source=Snapzu

Hedge Fund Manager Profited From Death Arbitrage

It’s gross, but grossness by itself doesn’t violate securities laws. By Matt Levine. (Aug. 16, 2016)
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-08-16/hedge-fund-manager-profited-from-death-arbitrage?source=Snapzu

Hydroponics at home: It doesn’t have to be hard, or ugly

Just don’t start with tomatoes.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/hydroponics-at-home-it-doesnt-have-to-be-hard-or-ugly/2016/08/23/4a24d0f2-5fd6-11e6-af8e-54aa2e849447_story.html?source=Snapzu

Google Takes on Uber With New Ride-Share Service

Google is moving onto Uber’s turf with its own ride-sharing service in San Francisco that would help commuters carpool at far cheaper rates, according to a person familiar with the matter, jumping into a booming but fiercely competitive market.
Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-takes-on-uber-with-new-ride-share-service-1472584235?source=Snapzu

The ‘handsome weeping boys’ paid to wipe away your tears

Japanese companies are paying for employees to attend "crying workshops".
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37178014?source=Snapzu

Dotcom allowed to livestream court hearing

Kim Dotcom has been granted permission to livestream his appeal against extradition to the United States on YouTube.
Read more: http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/dotcom-allowed-to-livestream-court-hearing-2016083010?source=Snapzu

Pushing back retirement age to 70 would be worse for low income individuals.

It sounds like a simple fix to the nation’s immense problem of funding Social Security and Medicare for an aging country — just get everyone to work to 70, and the math works out a lot better.
Read more: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/business/money/4103424-personal-finance-pushing-back-retirement-age-70-would-be-harder-low-income?source=Snapzu

I Got Scammed By A Silicon Valley Startup

Telling my story isn’t going to be easy. Oftentimes I feel embarrassed, enraged, and regretful when I have to relive it, but in the end it is a story and life lesson which should be shared so that others may know major red flags to look out for when choosing to work for a startup or new business. What you are about to read is true and happened within the last four months. The names have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty.
Read more: https://medium.com/startup-grind/i-got-scammed-by-a-silicon-valley-startup-574ced8acdff?source=Snapzu

Robert Reich says a single-payer healthcare system is now inevitable — here’s why

The best argument for a single-payer health plan is the recent decision by giant health insurer Aetna to bail out next year from 11 of the 15 states where it sells Obamacare plans.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/robert-reich-says-a-single-payer-healthcare-system-is-now-inevitable-heres-why/?source=Snapzu

Will a Merged Tesla-SolarCity put a Solar-Powered Battery in every Home?

Critics don't think Tesla can sell enough home batteries to justify its acquisition of SolarCity, but what they're underestimating is the potential for innovation the Gigafactory brings.
Read more: http://theconversation.com/will-a-merged-tesla-solarcity-put-a-solar-powered-battery-in-every-home-64101?source=Snapzu

Going to Pot

Humboldt County's marijuana boom is destroying a unique redwood forest ecosystem and killing some of California's rarest wildlife. Now veteran pot farmers are fighting the ‘green rush’ to make cannabis cultivation truly sustainable. By Todd Woody. (Apr. 18, 2016)
Read more: http://www.takepart.com/feature/2016/04/18/greenrush?source=Snapzu

Horn & Hardart Automats: Redefining Lunchtime, Dining on a Dime

In the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s Horn & Hardart Automats were a New York City dining staple for a hard-working lunch crowd.
Read more: https://www.6sqft.com/horn-and-hardart-automats-redefining-lunchtime-dining-on-a-dime/?source=Snapzu

Hidden assets, hidden costs

Edward N. Luttwak reviews Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier's "The Panama Papers: Breaking the story of how the rich and powerful hide their money."
Read more: http://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/hidden-costs/?source=Snapzu

Apple facing record bill for Irish tax

Apple could be ordered to pay billions of euros in back taxes in the Republic of Ireland under a European Union ruling expected on Tuesday.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37216176?source=Snapzu

EpiPen’s 400 percent price hike tells us a lot about what’s wrong with American health care

The EpiPen was invented in the 1970s by a biomedical engineer, Sheldon Kaplan, who was searching for a way to treat allergic reactions quickly. What he came up with was the EpiPen we know today: a pen-like device that delivers a premeasured dose of the hormone epinephrine in emergency situations. The device is ubiquitous in our country, carried by those with asthma or life-threatening allergies.
Read more: http://www.vox.com/2016/8/23/12608316/epipen-price-mylan?source=Snapzu

Health-care exchange sign-ups fall far short of forecasts

Several companies, citing financial losses, stop offering plans, which may leave some markets with only one insurer.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/health-care-exchange-sign-ups-fall-far-short-of-forecasts/2016/08/27/3d93f602-6895-11e6-99bf-f0cf3a6449a6_story.html?source=Snapzu

Virgin broke own rules by releasing Corbyn CCTV, document shows

The decision by Virgin Trains to release CCTV images of Jeremy Corbyn on one of its services after he complained on video about the journey being “completely ram-packed” was in breach of the company’s own policies, the Guardian can reveal. The company handed images, which appeared to show the Labour leader walking past empty seats before sitting on the train’s floor, to the media earlier this week in a move that embarrassed Corbyn.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/28/virgin-broke-rules-releasing-corbyn-cctv-document?CMP=fb_gu?source=Snapzu

The Internet Asks: Why Is It Called 'Grapefruit' When There Are No Grapes?

In the internet age, the answer to most questions is just a web search away. Some queries, however, are too ponderous or inane to even be Bing-worthy. When all else fails, The Internet Asks responds.
Read more: http://gizmodo.com/the-internet-asks-why-is-it-called-grapefruit-when-the-1785877586?source=Snapzu

Why Growth Will Fall

William D. Nordhaus reviews "The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The US Standard of Living Since the Civil War" by Robert J. Gordon.
Read more: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/08/18/why-economic-growth-will-fall/?source=Snapzu

The Obamacare Death Spiral

Obamacare is in big trouble.
Read more: http://www.thepolemicist.net/2016/08/the-obamacare-death-spiral.html?source=Snapzu

Too Old for Hard Labor, but Still on the Job

Some blue-collar workers trade the physical stress for related work that takes advantage of their knowledge and experience. By Christopher Farrell.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/13/your-money/too-old-for-hard-labor-but-still-on-the-job.html?source=Snapzu

Report details workers’ rights violations at Apple’s iPhone 7 supplier Pegatron

Industry watchdog China Labor Watch this week published a new report detailing what it says are continued workers’ rights violations at factories owned by Apple supplier Pegatron. The report, which analyzed pay stubs of employees at the Shanghai-based facilities, notes that Pegatron is one of Apple’s largest iPhone suppliers and currently manufacturing Apple’s next-generation iPhone 7 expected to arrive next month.
Read more: https://9to5mac.com/2016/08/25/apple-china-labor-watch-pegatron-iphone-7-workers-rights/?source=Snapzu

Mylan CEO sold $5m worth of stock while EpiPen price drew scrutiny

Heather Bresch sold 100,200 of shares on same day as release of earnings;transaction was ‘part of a 10b5 plan’, which curtails insider trading suspicions
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/27/mylan-ceo-sold-stock-epipen-price-hike-heather-bresch?CMP=edit_2221?source=Snapzu

Moody’s Warns Polish Investment Spending at Risk From Politics

Poland’s escalating political crisis threatens to impair investment spending and economic development, Moody’s Investors Service said two weeks before its scheduled review of the sovereign rating for the eastern European nation.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-26/moody-s-warns-polish-investment-spending-at-risk-from-politics?source=Snapzu

The Neuroscience Behind Bad Decisions

Irrationality may be a consequence of the brain’s ravenous energy needs.
Read more: https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160823-the-neuroscience-behind-bad-decisions/?source=Snapzu

Private Prison Companies Are Embracing Alternatives to Incarceration

Last Thursday, private prison stocks dropped like a rock when the Department of Justice announced that it would be phasing out its use of for-profit detention facilities. If you were an investor who had no ethical qualms about profiting from an industry that’s been accused of perpetrating a number of human rights abuses, it would have been a good time to buy. It turns out that reports of the industry’s imminent death have been greatly exaggerated.
Read more: https://www.thenation.com/article/private-prison-companies-are-embracing-alternatives-to-incarceration/?source=Snapzu

Why negative interest rates are mad, bad – and dangerous

What kind of Alice in Wonderland world are we living in.
Read more: http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/08/why-negative-interest-rates-are-mad-bad-and-dangerous/?source=Snapzu

Composer apologises to Hans Zimmer for 12 Years a Slave lawsuit

Richard Friedman sued Zimmer in January 2015 for copyright infringement but now regrets doing so after his case was dismissed from court
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/26/hans-zimmer-composer-12-years-a-slave-lawsuit-copyright?source=Snapzu

World’s biggest pension fund hit by $52bn loss

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) has posted a loss of $52 billion for April to June, following the tumbling Tokyo stock market and the yen’s surge.
Read more: https://www.rt.com/business/357310-biggest-pension-fund-billions-loss/?source=Snapzu

The Disastrous $45 Million Fall of a High-End Wine Scammer

Premier Cru’s John Fox got his clients rare vintages at deep discounts when they purchased cases on “pre-arrival.” Then a few too many failed to arrive.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-premier-cru-john-fox/?source=Snapzu

Universal basic income wouldn’t make people lazy–it would change the nature of work

Americans believe in the importance of a good day’s work. And so it’s understandable that the prospect of a universal basic income (UBI), in which the government would issue checks to cover the basic costs of living, rubs some people the wrong way. Writing in The Week in 2014, Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry envisions a UBI dystopia in which “millions of people” are “listing away in socially destructive idleness,” with “the consequences of this lost productivity reverberating throughout the society in lower growth and, probably, lower employment.”
Read more: http://qz.com/765902/ubi-wouldnt-mean-everyone-quits-working/?source=Snapzu

U.S. Fines Nebraska Bank Over Credit Card, ID Theft Marketing

First National Bank of Omaha will pay $35.25 million of fines and refunds to settle charges by two U.S. regulators that it duped hundreds of thousands of customers into buying credit card and identity theft services they did not want, understand or receive.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-first-natl-nebrs-idUSKCN11028D?source=Snapzu

EU Copyright Law Undermines Innovation and Creativity on the Internet. Mozilla is Fighting for Reform

The internet is an unprecedented platform for innovation, opportunity and creativity. It’s where artists create; where coders and entrepreneurs build game-changing technology; where educators and researchers unlock progress; and where everyday people live their lives.
Read more: https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2016/08/24/eu-copyright-law-undermines-innovation-and-creativity-on-the-internet-mozilla-is-fighting-for-reform/?source=Snapzu

The inside story of the quick rise and quicker fall of DraftKings and FanDuel

The implosion of the daily fantasy industry is a bro-classic tale of hubris, recklessness, political naïveté and a kill-or-be-killed culture.
Read more: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/17374929/otl-investigates-implosion-daily-fantasy-sports-leaders-draftkings-fanduel?source=Snapzu

Senator’s daughter who raised price of EpiPen got paid $19 million salary, perks in 2015

Fortune once described Heather Bresch's career as full of "ethically messy mishaps and public relations gaffes."
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/08/24/senators-daughter-who-raised-price-of-epipen-got-paid-19-million-salary-perks-in-2015/?source=Snapzu

Google will soon start punishing mobile sites that show hard-to-dismiss popups

Google today announced two major changes related to its mobile search results. The one you'll probably notice first is that Google is removing the..
Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/23/good-riddance/?source=Snapzu

Terror attacks cost Paris region €750m in lost tourism, officials say

Tourism chief pushes government for relief plan after atrocities in November and Bastille Day left sector ‘on its knees’
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/23/terror-attacks-cost-paris-region-750m-in-lost-tourism-officials-says?CMP=twt_gu?source=Snapzu

The US government is buying 11 million pounds of cheese because no one else will

The cheese oversupply is killing dairy farmers, so the US Department of Agriculture is stepping in to help.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-government-buying-11-million-pounds-of-cheese-2016-8?source=Snapzu

Neoliberalism has had its day. So what happens next?

In the early 1980s the author was one of the first to herald the emerging dominance of neoliberalism in the west. Here he argues that this doctrine is now faltering.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/21/death-of-neoliberalism-crisis-in-western-politics?source=Snapzu

Tory dream of a short, sharp Brexit

The holiday period is over, now Theresa May has to deliver.
Read more: http://www.politico.eu/article/tory-dream-of-a-short-sharp-brexit-theresa-may-conservative/?source=Snapzu

Bill Gates' net worth hits $90B, proving Thomas Piketty's point

Thomas Piketty said that capitalism's primary beneficiaries aren't those who make amazing things that improve the world -- rather, it favors those who have a lot of money to begin with.
Read more: http://boingboing.net/2016/08/23/bill-gates-net-worth-hits-9.html?source=Snapzu

Street Eats: Free Urban Refrigerators for Sharing Spare Food

A few years back, one man in Saudi Arabia was hailed as a hero for putting leftover food from his restaurant in a refrigerator along the street for anyone to take; since then, an ongoing effort in Europe has been scaling up the same approach to serve whole communities of people in need.
Read more: http://weburbanist.com/2016/08/21/street-eats-free-urban-refrigerators-for-sharing-spare-food/?source=Snapzu

Multipolar World Order, Economics versus Geopolitics: The Beijing-Moscow-Tehran "Triple Entente"

International tensions have in recent years often led to conflicts between nations, leaving countries to face complicated choices. The world is under constant change, and the most direct results ar...
Read more: http://www.globalresearch.ca/multipolar-world-order-economics-versus-geopolitics-the-beijing-moscow-tehran-triple-entente/5541853?source=Snapzu

Beyond Slurpees: Many Japanese Mini-Marts Now Cater To Elders

Convenience is in the eye of the generation. Increasingly, corner markets in Japan target the 27 percent of residents over 65 — offering nursing care advice and home delivery of meals and groceries.
Read more: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/08/23/490527970/beyond-slurpees-many-japanese-mini-marts-now-cater-to-elders?source=Snapzu

Wheel of Fortune

Will an obscure treaty change the way we name our cheeses? By Mark Hay.
Read more: https://theawl.com/cheesed-off-490b16032157#.88jn3dyrd?source=Snapzu

Overselling A.D.H.D.: A New Book Exposes Big Pharma’s Role

“ADHD Nation,” by Alan Schwarz, is important, humane and compellingly written. Schwarz has no doubt that A.D.H.D. is a valid clinical entity that causes real suffering and deserves real treatment, as he makes clear in the first two sentences of the book: “Attention deficit hyperactivity is real. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” But he believes that those who are disabled by the condition deserve a wider range of treatment options than an endless litany of stimulants with chirpy names like Vyvanse and Concerta. Reviewed by Steve Silberman.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/books/review/adhd-nation-alan-schwarz.html?source=Snapzu

The Greatest Social Challenge of our Generation

Ponder what life will be like following another decade or two of inversion, with society’s arrangements -- no longer able to be propped up by an expanding state. Consider an America where the affluent inhabit our core cities and the poor are left behind on our suburbanized outskirts. By Charles Marohn.
Read more: http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/8/12/suburban-poverty-week?source=Snapzu

How Lending Club’s Biggest Fanboy Uncovered Shady Loans

If you knew where to look inside the loan company, things were worse than anybody realized. By Max Chafkin and Noah Buhayar.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2016-08-18/how-lending-club-s-biggest-fanboy-uncovered-shady-loans?source=Snapzu

America’s cash-strapped teachers are a target for predatory lenders

Many teachers find themselves in the low- to middle-income part of the economy, and companies like MyPaycheckDirect aim to take advantage of that. By Suzanne McGee.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2016/aug/18/teachers-predactory-lending-mypaycheckdirect?source=Snapzu

Kobe Bryant reveals his $100 million venture capital fund

Kobe Bryant has revealed that while he was dominating play on the basketball court, he was also quietly building a $100 million venture capital firm, called Bryant Stibel.
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2016/08/22/technology/kobe-bryant-venture-capital-fund/?source=Snapzu